Operation: Lady Doomsday / Hot Potato
Cobra, the evil terrorist organization, commits a daring kidnapping. G.I. Joe responds with an even more daring rescue mission. Issue summary: Operation: Lady Doomsday During a press conference, America's top nuclear physicist, Dr. Adele Burkhart, is denouncing the military for misleading her to working on a doomsday project. Cobra surprises the security detail and gets away with kidnapping Burkhart. Despite her political stance, she must be rescued her else America's nuclear secrets are pried by Cobra. General Flagg sends in the Joe Team for the mission. Cobra is headquartered on an island in the Caribbean. The Joes are broken in two groups. Grunt, Stalker, Short-Fuze, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, Breaker and Flash are the insertion team who must destroy and sabotage much of Cobra's facilities in order to make way for the heavy assault team. The heavy assault team will compose of Hawk, Rock 'n Roll, Clutch, Grand Slam, Steeler and Zap. Using a JUMP jet pack and some grenades, Stalker makes short work of Cobra's coastal defense. The news reach Cobra Commander quickly but he is unfazed, confident in his army's ability to fend off the Joes. Breaker and Flash rig Cobra's radar to continuously display an all-safe reading. Stalker, Grunt and Short-Fuze bombard the airfield with mortar but this one Cobra was expecting and the Joes don't know they only destroyed dummy planes. Meanwhile, separated from Stalker's team, Scarlett and Snake-Eyes make their way through Cobra's fort and destroy the generators. The Commander remains unfazed and informs the Baroness to carry out the next phase of the plan. The Joes' main assault group arrive at the island and fight through Cobra's armor. Stalker's team encounter the village on the island and find its residents all killed. Flash is initially broken up and Breaker was about to propose doing the decent thing but Stalker would have none of that, reminding the two the mission comes first. Dr. Burkhart is being transported by Cobra to the airfield. The Cobra escort is taken care of and Stalker flies the doctor to safety. Only, she's not Burkhart, it is actually the Baroness in disguise and she tells him his team is doomed. Now, Cobra Commander reveals his true plan. He never hoped to extract any information from Burkhart. She was merely a bait to lure the Joe Team into a trap. Snake-Eyes and Scarlett show themselves to the Commander but he holds Burkhart hostage and the two Joes find themselves trapped in the same room as him. Cobra Commander informs them that he and Burkhart will be allowed to escape on the plane and the door has a timer that will unlock and let them go. Burkhart refuses to be a hostage and quickly tells the Joes that the timer is actually a bomb. Enraged, the Commander shoots Burkhart while Scarlett hurls a throwing star to his hand. After having dealt with the Cobra forces, the other Joes have arrived inside the fort. However, in the ensuing chaos, Cobra Commander and the Baroness both escape. With less than five minutes on the bomb's timer, the Joes secure a helicopter and fly away to safety. Featured Characters Featured Vehicles & Equipment Issue summary: Hot Potato In a backup story, Stalker, Scarlett and Snake-Eyes are trapped in the Middle Eastern country of Trucial Abysmia. They must survive and take a package dubbed the "Hot Potato" out of the country. Featured Vehicles & Equipment Errors At point, The Baroness is dressed up as Dr. Burkhart to decoy the Joes. She's 'rescued' by Stalker, and we don't see what happens after the reaction frame where she reveals herself. Shortly afterwards, she's shown with Cobra Commander in a sealed room in the fort. Items of note *In one page, General Austin calls on a female sergeant to display the dossiers of all G.I. Joe members on a computer. The computer shows the faces of all the original roster of Joes. Clearly, there were other G.I. Joe members that you can barely see at all save the name of one. Shooter's face is covered. Shooter is a non-toy Joe character which originally is an in-joke for then Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter. In Devil's Due's G.I. Joe Declassified, Shooter's fate, identity and role on the team is revealed. *"Operation: Lady Doomsday" was reprinted in ''G.I. Joe Yearbook'' #1. Both "Operation: Lady Doomsday" and "Hot Potato" were reprinted in ''G.I. Joe Digest'' #1, Tales of G.I. Joe #1 and G.I. Joe vol. 1 trade paperback. *This issue was also the subject of a 2004 Comic Pack that include a reprint of the issue and action figures of Baroness, Cobra Commander and Cobra Trooper. It would again be the subject of a Generation 3 Comic Pack two-pack though this time the action figures included are Hawk and Scarlett. Footnotes Category:Marvel Comics issues Category:Breaker (RAH)/Comic Appearances Category:General Flagg/Comic Appearances Category:Clutch/Comic Appearances Category:Flash/Comic Appearances Category:Grand Slam/Comic Appearances Category:Grunt/Comic Appearances Category:Hawk (RAH)/Comic Appearances Category:Rock 'n Roll/Comic Appearances Category:Scarlett (RAH)/Comic Appearances Category:Short-Fuze/Comic Appearances Category:Snake-Eyes (RAH)/Comic Appearances Category:Stalker/Comic Appearances Category:Steeler/Comic Appearances Category:Zap/Comic Appearances Category:General Austin/Comic Appearances Category:Cobra Commander (RAH)/Comic Appearances Category:Baroness (RAH)/Comic Appearances Category:Adele Burkhart/Comic Appearances Category:H.A.L./Comic Appearances Category:Hydrofoil L.C.T./Comic Appearances Category:J.U.M.P./Comic Appearances Category:M.O.B.A.T./Comic Appearances Category:R.A.M./Comic Appearances Category:V.A.M.P./Comic Appearances